Ultrasonics Standing Committee Meeting April 25th, 2020

Originally scheduled to take place in Chicago, Illinois, the Ultrasonics Standing Committee (USSC) Meeting was held on April 25^th, 2020 via teleconferencing. This marked the first time the USSC meeting was conducted completely online due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The USSC meeting was chaired by Sandy Cochran, Vice President for Ultrasonics and attended by more than 30 society members including UFFC Society President, Paul Reynolds, and President-Elect, Mark Schafer.

Key topics discussed:

• UFFC-S President Paul Reynolds gave a brief society update and provided information on how the Society is responding to the COVID-19 situation. He revealed two new ad-hoc committees that have been established: Governance and Industry Engagement. Highlighting the need for better communication with society members, he announced the appointment of Helen Mulvana as the Publicity Chair and Web EiC.
   
• The UFFC-S President-Elect, Mark Schafer, provided a brief insight as to how the pandemic can be expected to affect the Society financially.
   
• Scott Smith, General Co-Chair for IUS 2020, provided a status update on the symposium scheduled for September at Las Vegas, NV. Discussions were had on the different scenarios and the financial risks to the society. It was agreed to schedule an extraordinary USSC meeting, in agreement with the IUS 2020 Co-chairs, before the AdCom meeting in June.
   
• Ayache Boukaz, IUS 2021 General Co-Chair, provided a status report. He mentioned that the current COVID-19 situation in China is controlled. Therefore, they are planning to continue to make arrangements as normal, with the awareness that things can change instantly.
   
• Christine Démoré issued a call for participation in the leadership of coordination of the Special Topics School. This coordinator will act as a liaison with the three school leaders.
   
• Jan D’hooge, Chair of the IUS Guidance Committee, presented his report. He provided information on the committee’s objectives, its composition for 2019 versus 2020, a summary of past activities, and future action items including updating the objectives of the committee.
   
• Sandy Cochran, VP Ultrasonics provided an update on the recent changes in the USSC membership. The membership list will now be updated to include the Young Professionals (YP) Chair and the Publicity Chair.
   
• Paul Reynolds, UFFC-S President, discussed the structure of the UFFC-S AdCom voting members, which should be 22 once the recent changes take effect. Members are encouraged to provide feedback if they would like to see any further changes in the AdCom voting member structure.
   
• Steve Freear, UFFC-S VP Publications/Publications Chair, provided a status update and highlighted the importance of proceedings paper submissions for the society. Abstract format and the review process for IUS were also discussed. It was decided to have follow-up discussions on this topic using online tools.
   
• Jafar Saniie, Ultrasonics Awards Chair, presented a report on the 2020 Ultrasonics Awards. He gave an overview of each award (Rayleigh Award, Early Career Investigator Award, Carl Hellmuth Hertz Award), including the nomination committee process. Approval was sought for each awardee from the committee. It was decided to follow up after the meeting with an on-line vote.